Napa chef Pawlcyn recovering after crash that killed boy

Updated 4:39 pm, Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Award-winning chef and restaurateur Cindy Pawlcyn and her husband are recuperating after surviving a head-on crash in Napa Valley that killed a 4-year-old boy, her business partner said Tuesday.

Pawlcyn was riding southbound on Highway 121 in the Carneros area in a Lexus RX 450 driven by her husband, John Watanabe, when a Chevrolet Equinox heading north crossed the center line and came toward them at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, said California Highway Patrol Officer Guillermo Garcia.

Watanabe swerved into the northbound lane to try to avoid a collision. But the driver of the Chevrolet, 23-year-old Flavio Castellanos of Napa, swerved back into the northbound lane, and the two vehicles - both traveling at the speed limit of 55 mph - crashed head-on, Garcia said.